


Scotch

by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar)



Series: дезинформация [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Flirting, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Nicknames, Not Iron Man 3 Compliant, Oblivious Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tony Stark & Bucky's Arm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 18:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1828459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaqen_hgar/pseuds/Finely%20Honed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony was beginning to accept the fact that for a genius he was sometimes incredibly stupid. Only in certain arenas, mind you, and really, it was more an obliviousness than stupidity, and it isn't like you could blame him for being preoccupied. There was a lot going on in his mind, he had enough big ideas over breakfast to encompass the entirety of some people's academic careers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scotch

Tony was beginning to accept the fact that for a genius he was sometimes incredibly stupid. Only in certain arenas, mind you, and really, it was more an obliviousness than stupidity, and it isn't like you could _blame_ him for being preoccupied. There was a lot going on in his mind, he had enough big ideas over breakfast to encompass the entirety of some people's academic careers.

Being a genius was time consuming, as was being a big damn hero, and then there was Stark Industries to take into consideration, and yes, maybe he had thrown himself into his various projects with even more gusto than Thor when presented with a box of Pop Tarts, but that was easier than handling all of the ways his life had become _less_ busy. It was a hell of a lot better than allowing himself to feel the empty places Pepper had once occupied, until she’d finally recognized that Tony _was_ Iron Man and pretending otherwise was just not ever going to work out.

Still, he felt there had probably been other signs, clues, flashing neon lights, that he had managed to miss leading up to this moment. Or maybe not? Maybe it wasn't even a thing, it could possibly not even be a thing at all, he could be projecting, that was also a thing people did, right?

But James—he refused to think of him as _Bucky_ , because c’mon—had poured him a drink, and just as Tony had reached for it with the grabby hands, crooning, “Come to daddy!” Barnes had pulled it back out of reach, locked eyes with him in a sort of kind of smouldering way, then taken a sip. His tongue had darted out to swipe up a bit of escaped alcohol from his lips as he had finally handed the tumbler over to Tony, eyes still locked on Tony before he’d raised an eyebrow and walked away.

It had felt very… intimate. Yeah, _oddly_ intimate, because for just a second Tony had forgotten they were surrounded by people, had let his mouth fall open in a little ‘o’ of surprise, caught in the snare of James’s eyes and distracted by the sudden quickening of his pulse over the little bob of Barnes’s Adam’s Apple as he swallowed the scotch. _Tony’s scotch_.

Considering his love affair with good scotch, and his total lack of any sort of sexy fun times since Pepper had dumped his ass, it was entirely possible he was delusional, seeing what he wanted to see, because what he wanted to see was James doing that again, only next time? Next time Tony would slide his tongue into James’s mouth in order to taste, just shove him up against the bar and kiss him until…

Of course, if it wasn’t a thing, Barnes could break him in two with that ( _don’t think sexy_ ) metal arm of his, and then it would be this whole awkward scene, and he had to fight alongside these people, and Cap was _not_ going to approve, that much was certain, so… Peer consensus, that was what he needed, so he half turned on his heels, leaning into Bruce’s personal space, and pitched his voice low, an eyebrow quirked.

"Am I crazy, or did the one-armed bandit just give me the bedroom eyes?"

Bruce fought a wry smile. "Uh, yes, I'd say that was flirting, yes."

"Huh." Because, yeah, sure, why not, it made sense, they'd been spending a lot of time together, they’d gotten to the able to share comfortable silences together stage, even, so. Huh. This could be a thing.

"Tony," Bruce began, saying his name in that way people always seemed to say it, a blend of admonishment and exasperation, or, when he was lucky, affectionately exasperated.

The warning tone was a trigger for him, always had been, like a little red flag being waved, a challenge. Because, hey, what the hell? Why shouldn't he be intrigued by this particular development? It was an interesting development, damn it.

From his spot on the couch, Barnes was watching him, not being obvious about it, but not precisely subtle, either. The watching, Tony realized, had been an ongoing thing—he'd chalked it up to Assassin Behavior, no different than Clint's tendency to drop from high places when least expected (three in the morning in the community kitchen while Tony was about to eat the last of the leftover pizza, for example) and make Tony's heart feel like it was going to punch its way out of his chest.

"It's probably a bad idea," Bruce said, and Tony loved him even more than usual in that moment, because Bruce's words sounded more like encouragement than admonishment. He sounded amused, maybe even a little approving, like… like Bruce thought they could actually be good for each other.

Tony met Barnes's eyes, tipped his tumbler of scotch in the man's direction as if toasting him, and took a sip. There was a minuscule twitch at the corner of James's ( _admittedly pretty_ ) mouth, and an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgement, before he refocused his attention on the baseball game he was watching with Steve.

“I’ve had worse ideas,” Tony said, flashing his billion dollar smile as Bruce shook his head. “Actually? I only have great ideas, so if there is anything bad about this idea, that’s on him. He started it.”

“Okay,” Bruce answered patiently, patting Tony on the shoulder as he headed in to join the others.

Right. So. This would be interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> The bits in this series jump around time wise, as I write when the mood hits. :)


End file.
